DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 6

The rest of the afternoon went by without a hitch. Sharon had bought a nice purse at one of the shops they went to, while Andrea purchased some clothes and Patrice bought a nice painting of the Napa Valley. They came back to their hotel room to relax before venturing out to the hotel's restaurant for dinner.

Sharon went out on to the patio and pulled out her phone as she sat down on one of the chairs. She was calling Andy to see how their day was and to tell him about who they encountered while at the art gallery. The phone rang a couple of times before she heard Andy's voice on the other end.

"Hey sweetheart," Andy said as he answered his phone. "Hello," Sharon smiled at his greeting. "How's everything in Napa?" he asked her. "Oh, well there's one less crime being committed here," Sharon said but Andy didn't understand what she meant by that. "What?" he asked. Sharon could barely hear him all of a sudden.

"Andy, where are you? There's a lot of noise in the background," Sharon told him. Andy was walking Moxie on the beach while Matthew was flying his drone and Rusty was sitting on a chair. They had left Griffith Park about a half hour ago and decided to head towards the ocean. "Sorry, we're at the beach," he told her as he shifted the phone from one ear to the other and stopped by the chairs where Rusty was. He looked around and saw where Matthew was standing with his drone.

Moxie laid down on the towel as Andy sat down in the empty chair. "Now, what were you saying about a crime?" Andy asked her. Sharon shook her head. "I was saying that there's one less crime being committed here," she told him again. "Oh? Why do you say that?" he asked her as he was watching Matthew.

"Because, while we were out this morning, Andrea, Patrice, and I stopped an art thief," she told him as she smiled into the phone. "What? How did you do that?" Andy said, a little alarmed at the fact of what his wife just said to him.

"We were at an art gallery and Patrice noticed this guy who was acting suspicious. She pointing him out to me and I observed him for a while. We noticed he was eyeing a particular statue and when the moment was right, we caught him and stopped him from stealing the statue," Sharon told him an abbreviated version of what happened.

"Wow! Are you three okay?" Andy wondered as he leaned forward so that his elbows were on his knees now. "Everyone is fine," Sharon assured him as she ran her fingers through her hair. "How are my boys doing?" she asked him. "Well, wait a minute, what happened exactly?" Andy asked her and Rusty looked over at him as he said that. "Oh, Andy, it was really nothing. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow," Sharon told him. Andy huffed into the phone.

"Soo, how are my boys doing?" Sharon asked him again, trying to coax him back. "We're fine," Andy muttered but Sharon wasn't having any of his poutiness. "Andy," she said to him. "I just want to make sure you're okay," she heard him tell her. "I'm fine, I promise you," Sharon assured him. "Now, please tell me how you're doing," Sharon asked him for the last time.

"Oh, we're doing fine. Matthew is having a good time flying his drone, and Rusty is," Andy said as he looked at Rusty, who was reading another law book that he had brought with. "Rusty is currently reading a book," Andy finished quietly as he turned away from him. "We were at Griffith Park earlier today and Matthew wanted to go to the beach as well so we are here now," Andy told her as he noticed that Matthew sat down on the sand and he was tinkering with his drone in front of him.

"Oh, you did put sunscreen on him, right?" Sharon asked and Andy rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course I did," Andy said as he grabbed the bottle of sunscreen out of the bag and walked over to where Matthew was sitting. "Okay, well I'll let you go and I'll see you tomorrow!" Sharon told him. Andy stopped where he was so it didn't sound like he was shuffling. "Hmm, okay sweetheart. I love you, please watch yourselves there," Andy told her. "I love you too, Andy," Sharon told him. "Bye," they both told each other and hung up their phones.

"Matthew, your mother wants me to put some sunscreen on your face," Andy told the boy. He was wearing a sweatshirt and long pants so he didn't need it on his arms or legs. "Let me spray some on your hands and then rub it on your face," Andy told him. "I know, Mom does the same thing," Matthew said as he rubbed the sunscreen on his face.

"Is there something wrong with your drone?" Andy asked as he knelt down and looked at the toy. "No, I'm just tired of flying it," Matthew said as he looked at Andy. "Okay, well, come back over to where we are sitting," Andy said, pointing back to where Rusty and Moxie were located.

Matthew stood up with his drone in his hands and walked back over to where their belongings were. He pulled out the case for his drone and placed it back inside along with the remote control. Matthew then sat down on the towel where Moxie was laying and petted him while watching the waves crashing onto the shore.

Andy followed him and sat back down in his chair. "What do you feel like having for dinner tonight?" he asked the boys. Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "Burgers," Rusty stated. Andy chuckled. "Well, we kind of had a lot of junk food yesterday so maybe we should have something on the healthier side tonight?" Andy suggested.

"Ugh, you sound just like Mom," Rusty groaned as he placed the book he was reading back inside his bag. "Ha ha," Andy sarcastically said to him. Andy thought about where they could go for a minute as they were all sitting there. "Okay, I got the perfect place. It has burgers for you Rusty, some healthier options as well, and it's dog friendly," Andy told them as he leaned forward in his chair.

Meanwhile, back in Napa, the ladies were getting ready to head out to the hotel's restaurant. "Are you ready?" Andrea asked as Sharon was just finishing up putting earrings in and Patrice was touching up her make-up. "Ready!" Sharon said as she grabbed her clutch purse and made her way to the door. Patrice hurried behind her and they left their room and headed towards the lobby.

They walked through the hotel and made their way to the restaurant on site. Andrea gave her name to the hostess and the three of them were led through the restaurant to a table next to a fireplace that was in the middle of the restaurant. They all sat down and looked through the menu as the hostess told them who their waiter was going to be.

Andrea looked up from her menu and saw the owner of the art gallery that they had visited earlier today walk in, gazing over the crowd like he was looking for somebody. "Oh, the art gallery owner from earlier today is here," she told them and both Sharon and Patrice turned around to look.

"Don't do that!" Andrea hissed at them as they turned back around in their seats. Andrea kept looking to see what the art gallery owner was doing. "Oh no, I think he saw us," Andrea whispered. "Why are you whispering?" Sharon asked her. "And he's coming over this way," Andrea added. "Oh, maybe he wants to say hi again," Patrice commented as the three ladies tried to look down at their menus.

"Ladies, I'm so glad I found the three of you here," the art gallery owner smiled at them and waved over the head maître d to their table. "Hello again," Sharon said as she placed her menu back down on the table. Patrice smiled at the man and so did Andrea.

"Ah, George, make sure you take care of these three ladies. These angels helped me tremendously earlier today at the art gallery and I will be paying for their dinner tonight," the art gallery owner said. "Not a problem, sir," George said to him and smiled at them.

"Oh, that's not necessary," Sharon interrupted the two men as they stood next to the table. "Please, I insist!" the art gallery owner stated and Sharon looked at both Patrice and Andrea. "Enjoy the evening ladies!" the art gallery owner then walked away from their table, leaving the three of them speechless.

"Excuse me, George, who exactly is that man?" Andrea asked the maître d. "Well, he's only the well-known art gallery director in the Napa area and he's also the owner of this hotel, restaurant, and winery," George informed them. "Can I get you ladies anything to start off with?" he asked.

"Oh, um," Sharon said as she looked at Andrea and Patrice. All three of them then looked at the wine list and ordered a glass of wine and some appetizers to start off with. George then left the ladies to talk. "So, we helped out not only the owner of the art gallery, but also the owner of where we are staying?" Andrea asked.

"How did he know we would be here?" Patrice wondered. "Yeah, how did he know?" Andrea wondered as well as they both looked at Sharon. "I didn't tell him anything on where we were staying," Sharon said as George brought three glasses of wine back to the table. "I only told the detective that I was a LAPD Commander," she added as she sipped her wine.

Meanwhile, Andy, Rusty, Matthew, and Moxie had arrived at the small restaurant along the ocean. There were picnic tables set up and Matthew took Moxie over to one of the tables while Andy and Rusty waited in line to order at the take-out window.

"Ah, Lieutenant, good to see you again," Diego, the owner of the restaurant said to Andy. "Hi Diego, how are you doing tonight?" Andy asked him. "Good, good," Diego said and looked around the area. "Where's the Commander?" Diego asked. "She's out of town. It's just me and the boys tonight," Andy gestured to Rusty and Matthew. "Oh, and the puppy," Diego smiled as he got a pad of paper out to take their order.

After giving their order, the two of them walked back to where Matthew and Moxie were sitting. "How often do you come here?" Rusty asked him. "Every once in a while, your mother and I will come out here," Andy said as he sat down next to Matthew. "She likes the view of the ocean and the food's not that bad either," Andy added and Rusty nodded.

About fifteen minutes later, Andy heard their name being called from the window and stood up from the table. He walked over to the window and picked up the tray of food. "Thank you, Diego," Andy said and walked back over to the table, carrying the tray. He set it down on the table and both Matthew and Rusty reached over for their burgers. Andy moved his salad from the tray and they all began to eat.

Diego came out a few minutes later with a bowl of fresh water. "Here you go, puppy," he said and placed the bowl down beside Moxie. "Enjoy everyone!" Diego said and walked back inside the building. Rusty watched Diego walk away and turned towards Andy. "He seems a little too friendly," Rusty said as he took a bite of his burger.

"That's just how he is, a friendly guy," Andy commented and Rusty shrugged his shoulders.

Back in Napa, Sharon, Andrea, and Patrice were having a great time talking over their dinner. They were discussing the incident at the art gallery, they were also talking about work. Andrea was talking about things that were going on in the DA's office, while Sharon was talking about the political triangle of the hierarchy of the LAPD. Patrice spoke about the worst cases she saw when she was a nurse.

They were laughing and enjoying the evening. Patrice cleared her throat. "Can you believe that owner called us his angels?" she said as she took a sip from her wine glass. "When did he do that?" Andrea asked. "When he came over earlier," Sharon added as she sipped from her wine glass. Andrea looked at the two of them and Patrice started to laugh.

"Well, I will say that I felt like a Charlie's Angel earlier today when we foiled that art thief!" Patrice told them. "So, if we are the angels, then who's Bosley?" Sharon asked in the fun. "Provenza," Andrea blurted out and they all started laughing again. "Oh, no. My husband may be a great detective but he's not a Bosley," Patrice laughed.

Another waiter came over to their table and asked if they wanted any dessert. "Um, not tonight, I think we are good, right ladies?" Sharon asked and they all nodded. "Yes, we are fine, thank you," Andrea smiled at the waiter as he walked away. "Andrea, are you flirting with that waiter?" Sharon asked as she watched her friend.

"What? No, I wasn't flirting. I was simply admiring him from afar," Andrea laughed and the rest of them laughed too. Yes, they were definitely enjoying their evening there.

Back along the coast, after Andy and the boys were done eating, they watched the sunset over the ocean and headed back home. Matthew fell asleep on the ride back to the house. Andy pulled into the garage and got out of the car. "Can you take Moxie into the house while I grab him?" he asked Rusty. "Sure," Rusty nodded and opened the door to take Moxie out of the car.

Andy opened up the back door where Matthew was currently sleeping. "Hey buddy, we're home," Andy said, gently moving him. Matthew woke up a little dazed and looked around. "Where's Moxie?" he mumbled in a sleepy voice. "Rusty took him inside the house, come on," Andy held out his hand for Matthew to take.

Matthew stepped out of the car and waited for Andy to get the chairs and cooler out of the back section. Placing the chairs alongside of the wall in the garage, Andy then took Matthew's drone box out of the car and handed it to him. "Do you think you can carry this?" he asked and Matthew nodded, more awake now. Andy closed the garage door and then walked with him towards the back door of the house.

As they stepped inside the house, Rusty was making his way towards them. "I'm going to call it a night," Rusty said to them. "Good night," Matthew told Rusty as he walked into the kitchen. "Night, kid," Andy said and stood by the door, making sure Rusty got into his apartment above the garage ok before locking up the back door.

He made his way into the kitchen and saw that Matthew had left his drone box on the kitchen table. He heard the TV turn on and walked towards the family room. He saw Matthew sitting on the couch with Moxie next to him. "I thought you were tired?" Andy said as he walked towards the couch and sat down. "Not anymore," Matthew said as he punched in a few numbers on the remote and found the right channel.

Star Wars Rebels was now on the TV and both Matthew and Andy were watching the show. "Hey, how's your thumb doing today? I didn't hear you complain about it," Andy asked him. Matthew looked at his thumb and shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't hurt me anymore," he told him and laid his head down on the nearby couch pillow and got comfortable on the couch. "Hmm, okay," Andy yawned as they watched the show.

The next thing Andy knew, some new TV show was on, Matthew was sleeping curled up on the couch, and his mouth was dry. He stood up from the couch and made his way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Rubbing the back of his head to try to get the stiffness out of his neck, Andy went to the cabinet and got a glass out. He walked over to the fridge and poured himself a glass of water. He glanced at his watch to see what the time was and was surprised to see it was 3:34 in the morning.

"Crap," he muttered as he placed the glass in the sink and made his way back to the family room, turning the TV off and went to the task of waking Matthew up. "Buddy, come on time to get up," he said to him, trying to gently coax him into waking up. Matthew mumbled something incoherent and shifted positions.

Andy ran his hand through his hair and grabbed his phone off the table. He saw that he had missed a text from Sharon sent at 10:30 at night. It was too late to text her back so he figured he would text her in the morning. He turned his attention back to getting Matthew upstairs.

"Matthew, come on buddy, time to get up, you need to go to bed upstairs," Andy said and Matthew started to wake up. He slowly got off the couch and started to walk. "Come on, go with Moxie upstairs, okay?" Andy told him and he nodded as he walked with Moxie towards the stairs. Andy turned off the lights and headed up after them.

As Andy made his way into the bedroom, he noticed that Matthew went into their bed instead of his own bed and fell back asleep. Andy huffed as he looked at the scene in front of him. Matthew was sleeping and Moxie was sleeping, thankfully both on the same side of the bed. He turned to go into the bathroom and put his pajamas on.

Andy crawled into bed and made sure Matthew had a blanket covering him before he turned off the light and fell asleep.

TBC